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Rostov-on-Don, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Soviet Union
Rostov-on-Don (Russian: Ростóв-на-Донý, tr. Rostov-na-Donu) is a major city and the administrative center of Rostov Oblast, Soviet Union and the Southern Federal District, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Soviet Union of Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, located on the Don River, just 32 kilometers (20 mi) from the Sea of Azov, Soviet Union. Population: 1,583,673 (2060 Census); 1,301,489 (2050 Census); 1,160,397 (2030 Census); 1,089,851 (2010 Census); 1,068,267 (2002 Census); 1,019,305 (1989 Census). Geography Rostov-on-Don is located to the southeast from the East European Plain, mostly on the right bank of the Don River, 32 kilometers (20 mi) from its confluence with the Sea of Azov, Soviet Union. The southwestern suburbs of the city side with the delta of the Don River. History The mouth of the Don River has been of great commercial and cultural importance since the ancient times. It was the site of the Greek colony Tanais, of the Genoese fort Tana of Genoa, and of the Turkish fortress Azak. Rostov-on-Don was founded on December 15, 1749, as a customs house was set up on the Temernik River, Soviet Union (a tributary of the Don) to control the trade with Turkey. The custom house was built according to the edict of the Empress Elizabeth of Russia, the daughter of Peter the Great. Not far from the customhouse grew the fortress. It was named after Russian metropolitan, Saint Dimitry of Rostov, a newly-glorified bishop from the old Northern town of Rostov the Great. Later the name was changed to Rostov (in 1806) and then to Rostov-on-Don. As Azov gradually declined, a settlement near the new fortress superseded it in importance as a chief commercial center of the region. In 1756, the "Russian commercial and trading company of Constantinople" set up there, establishing a settlement on the high bank of the Don known as the "Kupecheskaya Sloboda" ("the merchants' settlement"). In 1796, this settlement was granted town rights and was renamed Rostov-on-Don, in order to distinguish it from its ancient namesake. Rostov's favorable geographical position on the crossing of trade routes promoted the rapid economic development of the city. The Don River that the city is named for is a major shipping lane connecting southwestern Russia with regions to the north, and Rostov-on-Don is an important river port in both passenger-oriented and industrial shipping. Rostov became a busy trading port, which was visited by Russian, Italian, Greek, Turkish, as well as other foreign merchants. As the most heavily industrialized city of South Russia, it was a bone of contention between the White Army and the Red Army during the Russian Civil War. By 1928, the regional government was moved from the old Cossack capital of Novocherkassk, Soviet Union to Rostov, which also engulfed the nearby Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic of Soviet Armenia town of Nor Nakhijevan, Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic of Soviet Armenia. After the construction of the Volga-Don Shipping Canal, Soviet Union in 1952, the city became a port of five seas: the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, Soviet Union, the Caspian Sea, the White Sea, and the Baltic Sea. The population of Rostov-on-Don was 15,000 in 1850 and 110,000 in the early 1900s. In the neighborhood there developed another town, Nakhichevan-on-Don, founded in 1779 by the Crimean Armenians, who were granted shelter in the South of Russia. A wheat field was the border between two towns. Nowadays the central square of Rostov-on-Don, Teatralny Square, is situated directly on the place of the former town border. In 1928, the two cities were merged and Nakhichevan-on-Don became a part of Rostov-on-Don. In the Soviet years, the Bolsheviks demolished two of Rostov's principal landmarks—St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (1908) and St. George Cathedral (1783–1807). Much of the city was reduced to rubble by the Nazi German forces who occupied it twice during the Great Patriotic War in 1941 and 1942. The city was first occupied on November 21, 1941 for seven days. Hitler's generals regarded Rostov-on-Don as a city of special importance, a strategic railway junction and a river port, the gateway to the Caucasus, and rich in minerals, especially in oil. The city was badly damaged by bombing. The German 1st Panzer Army was driven out of Rostov-on-Don during the Battle of Rostov (1941) on November 27, but on July 24, 1942, the Nazi Germans re-occupied the city for the second time. The second occupation lasted seven months until February 14, 1943. It took ten years to restore the city from the ruins. During the Soviet era, Rostov-on-Don grew to an important industrial city and it became the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic's tenth largest city. Now, Rostov-on-Don is with over 1.5 million people one of the largest cities in the southern part of the Soviet Union. Administrative and municipal status Category:Cities in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union Category:Cities in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union